Kawano Yūko stands in the forefront of Japanese post-war women tanka poets. An intensely personal writer who always enlivens her poetry with events from her own life, Kawano has had a long and distinguished career spanning 40 years. She has published books of essays & criticism. During her many years as a high-profile professional poet, Kawano has taught tanka composition at community colleges and on television, lectured all over Japan, and served as a judge for many tanka contests. ‘The Time of This World’ contains translations by Amelia Fielden and Saeko Ogi of 100 tanka selected by well-known poet and critic, Oshima Shiyō, from 13 of Kawano’s major collections, ranging from the passionate love lyrics of her earliest book Like a Forest, Like a Wild Beast, to the thoughts of a young mother living temporarily in the USA; from the mature reflections of My Tanka Diary, to The Maternal Line, where she is confronting the death of her mother, and the... More > resurgence of her own cancer, first diagnosed in 2000.< Less
